Intermission

Ever been to a really long play or movie? You know, where they understand that it would be just plain exhausting to sit through the whole thing? Well, I am at that point with Nancy's dash.

Its really difficult to test in place, seeing as you pretty much have to disconnect all the electrics to even begin to move the dash, so it was probably over 90% in place before I hooked it up.

Good news first: the speedometer seems happy. It is an intermittent problem, so its hard to say if its fixed or just in a "working stage." My soldering iron is really too big for messing with circuit boards. It has a low heat setting, but the tip is clunky. Sort of like working on a watch with a crescent wrench. You might also notice in the picture that I managed to forget the beauty ring that goes around the instrument cluster, so there is a blinding white stripe at the bottom that lights up like a christmas tree when you turn the lights on.

The bad news is that the blend door only slightly works. The heat is pretty warm, but not hot. The AC is pretty cool but not cold. This tells me the motor is working the door, but it doesnt have full range of movement. Probably it is hanging on something.... which will eventually burn the motor out entirely if I leave it. So, while it is better, I feel like I have to go back in. Oh joy.

I also have to figure out how to hook stuff up enough so that I can test the door with the dash out.

I figured out how Ford made its blend door blunder. Now this is just a theory, but I think it is a good working theory. I bet there was a big meeting at the engineering department. They brought all the engineers together to work out a serious issue: how should the glove box spring work?

While this was going on, there was only an unpaid high school kid on "bring your kid to work day" that figured out how to make the door work.

Seriously, its hard to believe they put so much effort into the damn glove box door. I have seen garage door springs with less power than what they put on a flimsy plastic glove box. And the best part is that you have to open the spring to get to the bolts. In other words, you have to spring it open, hold it there, and get three inch long screws in.

Happy VD

I am pretty gosh darn proud of my Bubbaneering job. So proud that I am adding my blend door fix as a RIP (rant in progress). Now if it fails miserably, I may have to douse the whole thing in gasoline and set it on fire.

Have you driven a Ford lately?

...and if you did, was the odometer working? Was the heat on in the summer or the A/C on in the winter?

Lovely. My Ford expedition (aka Nancy) has a couple of really irritating manufacturing defects. And of course, Ford will deny deny deny they existed. Lets elaborate:

1. Odometer flakey - Instead of one of those old fashioned gear driven odometers that have worked for damn near 100 years with very little exception, Ford had the genius idea of putting in an LED odometer. After all, the mileage is stored in a computer, why not just display it?
   
   I'll tell you why: because with a zillion electronic gizmos on one single circuit board, you are bound to have one cold solder... and if you expose it to hot and cold and bumpy roads... eventually it will stop working altogether.
   
   That is what happened to me. And you have to replace the whole circuit board at a price of about $350 parts -- with 8 hours of labor to pull it out of the dash. If you go google you will find lots and lots of us out there have this problem. From what I have read, a simple touch of a soldering iron will fix the problem (with the 8 hours of labor, of course.) We shall see.
   
2. Blend door - In the old days, there was a little door that diverted cold/hot air for the heater and A/C. There was a cable that ran to it and moved it. Cars going back to the 60's (and beyond) have this with no problems. Why change? And what would you change it to?
   
   Why of course, build a little servo motor and stick it into the ass end of the door. If you are a real idiot, you will make a servo door that moves 35 degrees from stop to stop and make a door that has 30 degrees of freedom from stop to stop. Over time that extra 5 degrees will cause the door to bust. Estimated repair cost is about $1100. For the ability to get warm/cold air.
   
   So I bit it off and combined my 8 hours (more) of labor with the odometer issue. Again, google "ford blend door" and see how many zillions of hits you get. The problem is across all makes and models (and even leaks over into Mazda). So imagine my surprise when Ford wont sell a blend door. Ford will only sell the entire air handler. $300 for the whole part. And if you buy this, you have to drain/remove the heater core and drain/remove the A/C coil.
   

Aftermath:

[Later edit... The entire blend-door-a-rama was finally presented as a rant]

Aliens

No, not aliens like Swedes. Aliens like invaders from another planet. And I have proof. Our friends were visiting the Stump Farm and space aliens landed. You can clearly see in the picture that I am looking at space aliens while everyone else smiles for the camera.